Pharmacy Aides in Maryland

A stethoscope and folded scrubs in a sunlit clinical workspace.

May 2025 wages · tax year 2026

You keep

$29,132

after federal, FICA and Maryland tax

Tax takes

$6,038

17.2% of the whole

Worth, in national money

$28,021

Maryland costs more than average

One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.

Median here

$35,170

Kept after tax

$29,132

Worth in national money

$28,021

State rank

38

of 48 states

What this pays, and what it is worth

  • The nominal figure here is modest. Maryland pays pharmacy aides a middle wage of $35,170, 38 of 48 states and about 6.66% below the national middle. Hold that thought until the adjusted numbers.
  • Within Maryland this is lower-paid work. Of 489 occupations the state publishes figures for, pharmacy aides ranks 478. That is the bottom quarter locally, whatever the national comparison says.
  • Costs eat into it here. Of $35,170, tax leaves $29,132 — and because Maryland is dearer than average, that stretches only as far as $28,021 would nationally. Averages run higher here, $38,680, since top earners drag the number up.
  • Maryland's $35,170 median for pharmacy aides places it 38 of 48 states, about 6.66% below national. Because both the tax and price adjustments tend to favor lower-nominal states, this ranking is the least stable of the three reported here.
  • Against every occupation Maryland reports, pharmacy aides ranks 478 of 489, in the lowest quartile of the state's distribution. That position is set by the local labor market and is independent of how the state compares nationally for this work.
  • After tax, $29,132 remains from the Maryland median of $35,170 for this occupation. Applying the state's above-average price parity yields $28,021 in national-average terms — the quantity relevant to a relocation decision, and the one absent from essentially every published wage comparison. Mean pay of $38,680 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.

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Pay band: Pharmacy Aides

The state median for this job

50thpercentile, roughly
Lowest tenth earn under$31,200
Half earn under$35,170
Top tenth earn over$48,340
This salary$35,170

Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.

The same pay, somewhere else

The state median for this job

Compare with
+$1,307take-home per year in Texas
Take-home in Maryland$29,132
Take-home in Texas$30,439
Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity+$3,303

State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.

What you would need there

The state median for this job

Moving to
$0now · $35,170$31,175
$31,175in Texas, for the same life
To match take-home only$33,543
You could take a cut of−$3,995
Prices in Texas97 vs 104

State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.

Sources and assumptions
  • A median is the middle, not an offer. Half of pharmacy aides in Maryland earn under $35,170 and half over. The published range runs $31,200 at the tenth percentile to $48,340 at the ninetieth. Experience and employer move an individual a long way inside that.
  • In Maryland the take-home figure of $29,132, from $35,170, assumes one filer, no dependants, and nothing paid into a pension before tax. Each of those lowers the bill, so treat it as the plain case. City and school-district income taxes are not included either, and in a few states those are real money. It ranks 478 of 489 occupations here.
  • The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $28,021 uses one figure for the whole of Maryland. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 489 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 478.
  • Figures are distribution medians for pharmacy aides in Maryland, not entry or offer rates. The published band runs $31,200 to $48,340; within-state dispersion of that width routinely exceeds the dispersion between states, so tenure, employer and metropolitan area predict an individual's pay better than geography does.
  • Take-home for Maryland is computed for a single filer taking the standard deduction with no dependants and no pre-tax contributions, giving $29,132 from $35,170. Each omitted item reduces taxable income, so the figure is a lower bound on retained pay for this household shape. Municipal and school-district income taxes are excluded, which understates the burden materially in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The occupation ranks 478 of 489 locally.
  • Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $28,021, worked from $35,170, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Maryland address, on work sitting at 478 of 489 locally.

Questions people ask

Is this the average pay for the job?

It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $38,680, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.

How much does pay for this job actually vary?

The range here is narrow. From $31,200 at the bottom tenth to $48,340 at the top, pay for this work clusters rather than spreads.

Does a bigger number here mean I am better off?

The number and the value are different things. Maryland costs more than the national average, so this take-home stretches like $28,021 rather than its face figure.

Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?

Four deductions, stacked. The federal layer and the two payroll taxes apply wherever you work; Maryland then takes its own share, leaving $29,132.

Why is this job missing from some states?

The survey withholds small samples rather than publish an unreliable number. Pay appears for 48 states here, and a missing state means too few reports, not no jobs.

How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?

The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Maryland is $38,680. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.

What is the dispersion of this occupation's wage distribution?

The tenth-to-ninetieth percentile span ($31,200 to $48,340) sits at or below the family's median dispersion, indicating relatively standardized compensation. Percentiles are published per state, so this dispersion is specific to Maryland rather than a national figure.

How does the state price level affect real compensation?

Maryland's regional price parity sits above the national average, so nominal wages overstate purchasing power. Deflating take-home by the state price level gives $28,021 in national-average terms. ⚠️ RPPs are an all-items index; housing parities vary far more widely than the headline figure.

What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?

Take-home of $29,132 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Maryland income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.

Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?

BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 48 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.